An airport is generally equipped with a conveyor system or facility to transport baggage. The conveyor system includes a closed-loop type rotatable conveyor, or a carousel, that is installed at a last portion of the conveyor system and configured to rotate in a certain space to classify baggage by destination or receive baggage.
The baggage carried onto the carousel is carried by a plurality of slat plates of the carousel. Each of the slate plates is connected to a main chain, and moves along a surface of the carousel in accordance with a movement of the main chain in response to an operation of a drive apparatus.
An existing drive apparatus for a carousel may rotate on a sprocket wheel attached to a decelerator shaft by a rotational force generated by a motor and a decelerator, and transmit this rotational force to a caterpillar chain to rotate the main chain.
However, such a drive method applied to the existing drive apparatus may generate an excessive amount of noise because the sprocket wheel and the caterpillar chain are engaged.
In addition, when a filature or fault occurs in the drive apparatus, there needs a great amount of time to connect an auxiliary drive apparatus and the carousel, which may cause many airport users to make complaints.
Therefore, there is a desire for a drive apparatus for a carousel that does not generate a great amount of noise and is replaced immediately.
For example, Korean Application No. 10-2015-0186521 discloses a carousel with a round bar-type rail that allows slats to move flexibly. The carousel may have the rail that is provided in a round bar-type and may thus reduce noise generated when the carousel operates.